Two Jackson men who were in a drug and alcohol treatment center have landed up in jail after plotting a scheme to use a bomb threat to make a profit from a lawsuit against police.

Duane E. Haffner, 23, received a five-year sentence, and Leotis Sylvester Allen, 22, received a four-year prison term on charges of making a terrorist threat. Both men are from the southeast Missouri town of Jackson.

"This was more a crime of stupidity rather than terrorism," AP quotes Cape Girardeau County prosecutor Morley Swingle as saying.

Jackson police received a call on February 21, which detailed them about a man's outfit who would bring a bomb hidden in his shoe into the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse in Jackson the next day.

The two men hoped to profit by being handled by police and suing for injuries that one of the men hoped would ensue from the struggle. However, the plan was foiled when detectives Scotte Eakers and Rodney Barnes of the Jackson Police Department recognized the voice of Haffner.

It was also detected that the call had been made from the Gibson Recovery Center, where Haffner and Allen were staying and Allen paid Haffner $25 to make the call.

The pair's behavior in prison will be checked after 120 days and the prosecutors will then decide whether to release them on probation.